Over the weekend (November 18-19, 2023), the “Társasjátékok Ünnepe” (Board Games Festival) took place in Hungary. It's the biggest board game event here. This year, I could spend a whole day there as an author, and three of my board game books and five of my board games were available for trial and purchase at Pagony Publishing. I don't think players realize how significant it is for authors to meet them. I loved that friends and acquaintances came, that there were people who already knew my name and games, but it was just as exciting to introduce myself to new people. I already get emotional when one person is interested in what I do, but here I got to play with dozens of people, and many bought and had me sign lots of my games and books. I'm already looking forward to the next event!
Hungary isn't very big, but look at the size of the hall we fill for two days with board game enthusiasts. All the major publishers are here, there's a separate room for developers who come with prototypes, hoping that publishers will notice their game, and there's even a mini-Essen exhibition with the latest and most exciting titles.
I first attended in 2016 as an author, celebrating the release of my first board game, "Űrcsempészek" (Space Smugglers).
In 2017, we released the board game "Kiwi" to support my workplace, the “Igazgyöngy Alapítvány” (Rear Pearl Foundation), and we presented it to the public at the Board Games Festival. In 2018, under the care of Pagony Publishing, it was all about "Rumini Kincsesláda" (Rumini's Treasure Chest), which I played a lot that year at this event. Since then, I mostly went out as a player or for 1-hour signing sessions as an author, so I was thrilled that this year, I could once again spend a whole day revolving around my game design work in an incredibly knowledgeable environment: